Light tests at RPI to help the early birds sleep

RPI focuses on malady associated with aging

Brian Nearin, Times Union

By Brian Nearing

Published 10:23 pm, Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mariana Figueiro, holds a light mask, used in her current study on using light to help alleviate insomnia Tuesday, March 25, 2014, during an interview at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y. Figueiro is testing the use of 480 nanometer light wavelength to help older adults to get better sleep. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Mariana Figueiro, holding a cicada light meter, talks about her current study on using light to help alleviate insomnia Tuesday, March 25, 2014, during an interview on at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y. Figueiro is testing the use of 480 nanometer light wavelength to help older adults to get better sleep. The light meter is worn by test subjects and the information from the meter is used to program the light mask. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Erin Ryan, a masters of science and lighting student at RPI, demonstrates how the light mask is worn by test subjects Tuesday, March 25, 2014, during an interview at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y. Mariana Figueiro is currently studying the use of light to help alleviate insomnia. Figueiro is testing the use of 480 nanometer light wavelength to help older adults to get better sleep. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of a cicada light meter, left, and a light mask are seen on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y. Mariana Figueiro is currently studying the use of light to help alleviate insomnia. Figueiro is testing the use of 480 nanometer light wavelength to help older adults to get better sleep. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Erin Ryan, a masters of science and lighting student at RPI, demonstrates how the light mask is worn by test subjects during an interview on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y. Mariana Figueiro is currently studying the use of light to help alleviate insomnia. Figueriro is testing the use of 480 nanometer light wavelength to help older adults to get better sleep. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A flashing mask that looks like it belongs at a techno-rave party might hold the key to a better night's sleep for elderly people who wake up in predawn hours and have difficulty falling back to sleep.

"We are talking about the very, very early birds," she said. Some people try sleeping pills to extend their rest, but Figueiro is looking at how exposure to a specific spectrum of blue light can reset the clock of the body's natural sleep cycle, so people can remain awake longer in the evening and sleep longer in the morning.

As part of a $3 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health, Figueiro has developed a lightweight mask that is being tested on volunteers in the Capital Region. The mask directs periodic flashes of blue light — a two-second flash every 30 seconds for about three hours — that pass through the wearer's eyelids to boost the level of melatonin, a hormone that triggers drowsiness and promotes sleep.

Preliminary results over the past year have been encouraging, and the center is recruiting more volunteers — who are paid $700 to wear the mask for two weeks, downloading data from it to a laptop computer and administering daily saliva tests for melatonin. For the other four weeks of the six-week study, they wear a device that measures their body's overall exposure to light and indicates how much they are moving as a way to determine if they are sleeping or active.

The study is set to move this fall to the University of North Carolina, Figueiro said. And the technology has drawn the interest of Philips Respironics, a Pittsburgh-based company that makes devices that alleviate sleep apnea, a condition caused by a breathing irregularity, she said. Philips spokeswoman Lea Armstrong was not able to confirm that on Wednesday.

Test subjects who have worn the masks at night have shown melatonin levels increasing later in the evening, which helps them stay awake longer, and when sleep, wake up later, said Figueiro.

"We have some people who cannot stay awake after 6 p.m. and are up at 3 in the morning," she said. "After a week, we are seeing a shift in rising melatonin levels from a half-hour to 45 minutes later in the evening," she said. The goal is to see if that shift can be extended as long as three hours.

Melatonin production is part of a chain of events that starts in the eye. Light stimulates a nerve pathway from the eye's retina to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. There, signals are sent that control hormones, body temperature and other functions that play a role in making people feel sleepy or awake.

Melatonin is made in the pineal gland, a pea-size gland in the brain. Normally, the pineal gland is activated at about 9 p.m. each night to begin releasing melatonin. Levels of the hormone remain elevated for about 12 hours before dropping again.

Daylight hitting the retina in the morning causes the brain to perform other tasks, such as raising body temperature and releasing stimulating hormones such as cortisol, while suppressing melatonin.

The use of light to manipulate melatonin levels is already being applied in agriculture, where extended periods of light are used to induce cows and chickens to produce more milk and eggs. Light therapy is also being used for patients with Alzheimer's disease to create more regular sleep patterns.